How quickly should one pay off a house?

No. The bank is only interested in the Residential Mortgage Credit Directive. Otherwise, there is no concern, since in retirement the value of the property always far exceeds the loan amount, and with 99% financing, the repayment rate is always below the rent.

This!

I always find it interesting how often this is overlooked in discussions. A lot of people consider the future follow-up financing the same way as the original initial financing.

Financing rate at 99% is always below a rent.

That may be true, but exactly then, in addition to the low rate and the usual additional costs, age-related wear and tear comes along that costs real money. Renovation, kitchen, possibly roof, plaster painting, new photovoltaic system, ventilation system possibly to be replaced, definitely a new heat pump, etc. So my house is not maintenance-free.
With current 20-year-old existing houses, it is different; if anything ever breaks, it is at most the gas heating, like with my mom, because nothing else can break.

Some people will still be surprised who are now spending money like water.

It may be, but exactly then, in addition to the low rate and the usual incidental costs, come the age-related issues that really cost money. Renovation, kitchen, possibly.

You are talking about a rental apartment in that clause, right?

Roof, plaster painting, new photovoltaic system, ventilation system possibly renewed, definitely a new heat pump, etc., so my house is not maintenance-free.

Oh, that’s on top of that. Who forces you to, for example, renew the photovoltaic system? Or definitely install a new heat pump if the old heat pump still works? The rental apartment is also not maintenance-free. You pay that every month as part of the rent. And just because you are suddenly retired doesn’t mean everything immediately breaks down. Normally, you reroof the roof every +/- 50 years. The ventilation system is not renewed, but new motors are installed (unless you don’t have any at all). Etc. You are currently making owner-occupied houses seem very expensive; the apartment has no maintenance... The only thing I consider as an extraordinary but planned maintenance is a new heating system. Everything else occurs every few years or is not mandatory. Then the facade is simply no longer snow white. That’s how it looks everywhere and no house has become uninhabitable because of it. A "must" is something different than a "would be nice." Oh yes, as long as you have at least a reasonable pension of any kind, you just take out €15k for the new heat pump as a loan. Banks can only rely on the (well given security) for renovation loans. So €15k loan at 6% annuity is then €75 monthly for a new heating system. That’s something you can probably live with.

You are talking in the clause about a rental apartment, right? Oh, that’s in addition. Who forces you, for example, to renew the photovoltaic system? Or definitely install a new heat pump if the old heat pump is still working? The rental apartment is not maintenance-free either. You pay for that every month as part of the rent. And just because you suddenly are retired doesn’t mean everything breaks down immediately. Normally, you re-roof the roof every +/- 50 years. The ventilation system is not replaced, but new motors are installed (unless you have none at all). And so on. You are currently talking the owner-occupied house as very expensive, but the apartment has no maintenance... The only thing I consider as extraordinary but planned maintenance is a new heating system. Everything else happens once in a blue moon or is not essential. Then the facade is just no longer snow white. That’s how it looks everywhere, and no house has become uninhabitable because of it. A "must" is something different from a "would be nice." Oh yes, as long as you have a reasonably sensible pension of any kind, you simply take out a €15,000 loan for the new heat pump. The bank can base renovation loans exclusively on the (well given security). So a €15,000 loan at 6% annuity is then €75 monthly for a new heating system. One can probably live with that.

I am not talking anything expensive or cheap here, but just want to point out that later you not only have to pay the incidental costs and some construction sites will come up. If the construction loan is also still running, then you can only hope to have set something aside.

"Looking back at 90" means looking back at life, and not postponing!

I simply don’t find it sensible to think in such (for human standards) ultra-large time dimensions. The life philosophy "What do I want to look back on at 90?" is for me the exact opposite of "Live every day as if it were your last!". And I tend more towards the latter attitude rather than the former. Tomorrow is Walpurgis Night with witch burning etc... And at 90, I definitely won’t be looking back on Walpurgis Night 2024. But we will have a nice evening with the kids, even if we won’t look back on it at 90.

All those statements like "don’t know what else to do with the money" go in that direction.

Yes, the example came up above. Invest 1,000 euros or 2,000 euros more per month in quality of life. But how do you do that? How do you "buy" quality of life? Tomorrow’s Walpurgis Night with witch burning is a good example. It doesn’t cost a cent. If we ride our bikes there, not even fuel.

If it’s so important that the house is paid off by 43, and it’s possible, then do it.

I am open to concrete suggestions on how I can increase my quality of life by spending money. Feel free to share. And no, we won’t pack up everything here, pull the kids away from their social environment and travel around for months or years. Realistic suggestions, for which we don’t have to give up our happy life with great jobs, family nearby, many friends close by, and the children’s social environment.
At the moment it’s also a bit like the money just remains. We are not very consumption-oriented, at least not regarding material things.

I am not talking about anything expensive or cheap here, but just want to point out that later you not only have to pay the additional costs and that one or the other construction site will come up. If the construction loan is still running on top of that, then all you can do is hope to have saved something.

I also think that there will be significant additional costs. Photovoltaics will certainly become mandatory in some form at some point (possibly indirectly). Heat pumps are mandatory anyway. The photovoltaic system might significantly reduce the lifespan of the roof because roof tiles are happily cut up. At some point, the bathroom or bathrooms will need renovating. And all-in, the heat pump is rather around 25-30k and not 15k.

Rental properties are also primarily a tax-saving model through depreciation. Sometimes neither the tenant nor the landlord has to pay for maintenance – mathematically, the state does that. And of course, 300 sqm of roof area over 20 apartments is cheaper per apartment than 150 sqm of roof area on a single-family house.

We also live in a house. Because it is nice. I wouldn't primarily see it as retirement provision. Something definitely still has to be added, for example, a fully paid-off house without maintenance backlog including heat pump, photovoltaics, photovoltaic battery, wallbox, etc. all newly done at retirement. And then also several hundred thousand euros in investments – then I would be relatively sure that one can still travel in old age, still go to restaurants, still take trips AND maintain the house (in old age, maybe more garden work will be outsourced).

And all this assuming that the statutory pension will still exist in 30, 40, 50 years. Do you really all trust that? That it will still exist and still at a comparable level as today plus inflation adjustment? I see that as one of the biggest points – many say the pension will no longer exist then or only as a uniform minimum pension at basic security level. Everything else must be privately provisioned for.